Rise of The Guardian of Space, Time, and Dimensions
by Assassin18003
Summary: This is my first attempt at this type of thing, any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated. This is about a young man, and his journey to help save the world. Has some Assassins Creed, and a few other references inside.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 The heat was sweltering in the tavern, of course, the press of all the bodies didn't help. Then, out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning lit up the room. Not even a second later, a peal of thunder split the air with an ear-grabbing power. "Damn, that was close," said the man standing next to the window. He turned around and growled, "Where is he. He was supposed to be here three hours ago." At that instant, something, or someone, banged on the door. "That's him. About time," he adds under his breath. He walks over to the door and opens it. As he peers out, there's nothing to be seen through the wind-driven rain. "Geoffry, I've been here the whole time," a voice rings out. Geoffry spins around trying to find the source of the voice. "The reason I chose tonight is because of this storm. You don't realize how easy it is to sneak into somewhere, in the midst of a storm such as this."  
"Show yourself assassin," Geoffry bellows out.  
"Very well," the voice replies as he drops behind Geoffry from the rafters above.  
"Boo," he whispers, as he lands causing Geoffry to stumble away, spinning as he does so.  
"I gathered all I could here, just as you asked," Geoffry says, as the man walks into the center of the room. As he does so the noise drops into nonexistence. Even in the sudden silence, the man makes no noise as he approaches a table. As he sits and eats, everyone watches. He keeps his hood up even in the stifling air, making it impossible to distinguish his features. His clothes were of the finest make. Light gray, with a strange symbol, on the forehead of his hood. It looked similar to a pair of wings, as I look upon the symbol I remember seeing a similar symbol, I don't remember where I saw the symbol, but remember it I do. He carried many weapons, hooked to a harness: A longbow, a full quiver of arrows, a cutlass, a strange looking war hatchet, and two spring blades on his wrist. As he shifted quick glints of light appeared on his body where tiny pieces of metal hinted at where other hidden weapons were on his body. He ate carefully, entirely at ease, yet poised for a fight if need be. This was not a man you wanted to cross.  
The man slowly scans the room, meeting the eyes of all who dared to look in them. As his gaze came aligned with mine, a strange feeling came upon me, one that I was not able to describe, until later. "Him," he whispered. The tavern was so quiet; it seemed that he spoke normally. The men in the tavern shifted so that everyone could catch a glimpse of me. "He is the one," he said, breaking my line of thought, and bringing me back to the matter at hand.  
"What do you mean," I asked, trying to keep the surprise and slight fear from my voice.  
The man stands and walks over as he replies, "I was sent here to choose an apprentice, my mentor commanded it, and so I have chosen you.  
"How old are are you?"  
"I recently celebrated my 17th name day."  
"Excellent, what are you called?"  
"I am called Arconn."  
"An elvish name. Are you not human?"  
"Yes, I am human. I am known as Arconn, in remembrance of an elf that once saved my father's life."  
"Your father, where is he? Should he not be here?"  
"Alas, my father died from a sickness, not two summers ago. We layed him neath a grand oak tree beside our house, according to his last wishes."  
The stranger stops beside me and gazes down at me, yet because of his cowl, I cannot see his expression, I now realize he is only above average height. Right around 5' 9" at most.  
"Stand," he commands. I jump to my feet.  
He looks me up and down, taking in my figure. He slowly begins to circle me, commanding me to be still as I start to follow him. As he finishes his circuit, he starts to speak to himself. "Could lose some weight, and add a bit of muscle, but the training will do most of that. Has a decent height. Nice big hands. All in all a fine young man. Yes, he will do nicely." He turns to me sharply, "Gather your belongings, and meet me five leagues north of here in the morning."  
He turns to leave as I cry out, "Wait a minute, why?!"  
"To start your training," he yells over his shoulder as he leaves.  
When he is gone people glance about at each other trying to process what had just happened. After a couple of minutes, the talking starts up again. As I look around, I see Geoffry, standing around still trying to get over the fact of what happened. After a few minutes of this, he finally dismisses everyone that wishes to leave. I get up from my seat, after sitting down to think over the events that transpired and head out into the storm. As I pull the hood up on my cloak, I notice that the rain has stopped. In fact, it appears as if there was no storm in the first place. As I walk through the small village, I glance around, taking in the village, as this might be the last time I see it in a while. I walk through the North village gates and walk the five leagues to my family's farm. As I walk, I churn the events over and over in my mind. Finally, I turn off the road on to a dirt track and walk the two hundred feet to the main house. As I walk in the house, my mother pops her head out of the kitchen.  
"Oh, good. You're home. Arconn, come meet mister Creed."  
"Creed? Who is that, and what kind of name is Creed?"  
"Oh, that would be me," a voice says. "I stopped here because of the storm. Your ma'am was kind enough to let me in.  
"You must be the great Arconn, your ma'am has been talking about you non-stop."  
"That's not true," my ma'am buts in. "I told him nothing but the essentials."  
As they exchange this verbal sparring, I study this mister Creed. For some reason, his voice is strangely familiar. As I watch, he finishes walking down the steps, and steps into the light. He had short brown hair, with light brown stubble, and piercing green eyes.  
He finally finishes with my mother and turns back to me.  
"I should probably properly introduce myself. I am actually an old friend of your dad. We knew each other many years ago. I am sorry to hear of his passing. My name is Jeremy Creed."  
"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Creed. If I might ask, what brings you to the area?"  
"Straight to the point I see. Good for you. A mixture of business and pleasure. This was the pleasure part. I heard that your dad was here in the area and hoped to visit with him."  
"Okay. Ma'am, I'm going to head to bed if you don't need me."  
"But what about dinner? It's almost ready," she says.  
"Okay, let me get cleaned up.  
"Oh, I also need to talk to you about something that occurred at the tavern earlier."  
"Oh, really. What happened?"  
"A strange man showed up. Apparently, that's what the meeting was about. At least that's what it sounded like with what Geoffry said. Anyways he offered me an apprenticeship. Well more like a demand than an offer. He told me to meet him, 5 leagues, north of the village, in the morning."  
"Well, that's nice, what is his profession?"  
"I'm not altogether sure. Geoffry called him an assassin, but I don't know. Ma'am what's wrong." As I was talking Ma'am face went bright white, as all the blood drained from her face.  
"Nothing, I'm fine. But, Jeremy, I thought that this was your pleasure, not your business." Her face went from white to bright red.  
There were very few times I had seen my mother angry, this was one of those times.  
"Yes, this is both my business and my pleasure. Please, Marie. At least let me talk to him he must know before he can accept."  
"No. I forbid it. He is the only family I have left. I will not let you take him. If he were to leave, and die what would I do, how could I live with myself knowing that I allowed that to happen?"  
"If he were to accept you could come back with us..."  
"No, I left that life. You know why. I could never allow myself to go back there."  
"Even if you came with us, you wouldn't have to live that life."  
"Wait, wait, wait. Wait. What life?"  
"Marie, we have to tell him."  
"Fine, but don't involve me. I don't want that life." My mother turns away and re-enters the kitchen.  
Jeremy sighs, "Your mother is extraordinary. She was one of our best. After she met your father, she changed. She brought him back and started training him. Soon after that, they got married. When she found out she was pregnant with you, she left the brotherhood. Expressing she didn't want you to have to live that life, but would let you choose when you were old enough. That time has come.  
"It is time to tell you about your heritage. You are descended from a long line of assassins who belong to a brotherhood, known as the Assassins' Creed. We are more than assassins for hire, we are warriors for the Light. We fight to defend the people from rulers, and other hidden sects, whose purposes aren't as noble as ours. Our greatest enemy from the founding of our brotherhood, are the Paladins. They wield fierce magic. The ability to negate all other magic. There is an unconfirmed rumor that the first assassin was once a high ranking Paladin officer. We tried to trace his descendants, but were unable to after several generations."  
"Wait. How does this concern me?"  
"You must understand the background of the brotherhood before you can accept my offer."  
"Hold on. YOUR offer?"  
"Yes, I was the one in the tavern. I lied about being sent here to find an apprentice. That was just for the benefit of the others in the tavern. I was sent to find and retrieve YOU."  
"Me? Why me?"  
"Because you belong to the Creed. We have a saying, 'Your blood is not your own. It belongs to the Creed.' And it is very true. Our best warriors are descended from the original 13 assassins. 12 to fight, one to lead. Today, we number almost a thousand. Several of the original bloodlines centuries ago. 6 of the 13 original bloodlines remain."  
"How long has this war lasted?"  
"It has lasted for millennia. The exact number of years was lost to the sands of time. The only one who truly knows has yet to be found."  
"What do you mean, "yet to be found?" Surely your historians should know, and have it written down somewhere."  
"Your right, our historians have diaries dating back to over two millennia. However, even those diaries speak of the founding as if it occurred long before them. The one who knows is the firstborn of the founder. That is another reason we tried to trace the founder's descendants. To find the one. There are signs we were told to watch for. Only months ago the fifth of eight signs appeared. 5 red dawns in a row. It was this sign that sent me into motion, to find you. But it is not just you, but all assassins across Middle Earth. The sign was to tell the world the Paladins are on the move. We have only a single year from that sign to gather our forces. To meet the Paladins in battle. We must defeat them, or they will destroy the world as we know it. Arconn, We need you. You and the other young of the Creed might make the difference between victory and defeat.  
"Arconn, we need you. If we fail, we need you and the others to continue on the Creed. In one on one fights, assassins can almost always come out on top. But in big fights... It is not uncommon for only one or maybe two assassins to escape. We might be better trained, faster, and agiler, but they wear a strange and special armor that sets them apart. Light and very flexible, the metal is as a second skin. It is hard to get into, therefore hard to get out of. Most just wear the armor from the time they get into it to the time the war ends, or they die on the battlefield."  
"Wait, you want me to help you defeat these guys when you describe them as undefeatable."  
"They are not UN-defeatable, just hard to kill. That is why we need the descendant of the founder. With him, or her, we will win. It is said the descendant will have magic power, the power of fire, but will also have the ability to negate magic. You can only cast spells up to a certain distance, the descendant will be able to cast his spells up to twice the range of any spell caster, or magic user, alive, even that of a wizard. That is incredibly rare. Practically non-existent. With the descendant on our side, we will win and protect this realm.  
As the firstborn of an assassin bloodline, you will have a magical ability. You might notice weird things that have happened while you were young. Think back to your youth, anything strange that might have occurred, that stuck out to you."  
As I sit back and think through my life, I notice weird things, but none of them would be considered magical. I'm pretty sure rolling your tongue isn't magical. I sit there for who knows how long before Jeremy asks,"Anything?"  
"Nothing that would be considered magical," I reply.  
"Are you sure, I mean completely sure."  
"I'm telling you nothing."  
"That's odd. That's never happened that I know of. Very well we will have to talk the healers at the Homebase."  
"Wait, I never said that I was going with you."  
"Right, I got a bit ahead of myself. Sorry. It's just that we need you and could almost literally die, without you. You might just be the one who could save us all. Please, come with me."  
"What about my mother? Who will look out for her if I leave?"  
He lets out a small chuckle, "Your ma'am is far from unable to look out for herself. She only said that to try to convince you to stay. If you leave, she will be fine. Even as an apprentice you'll make more than enough money to send here to your mother to help her hire help for the farm, and still have money to expand the farm. Then keep and save the money you don't spend, and you can buy everything you need after your apprenticeship ends. It will last for roughly ten years, so when you're done, you will be in your prime, ready to fight for and guard the light.  
"We have a saying, 'When other men blindly follow the truth, remember, nothing is true. When other men are inhibited by their morality or law, remember, everything is permitted. We work in the dark to serve the light. We are Assassins.'  
"Come with me and fulfill the promise in your blood. Fulfill your destiny, whatever that may be."  
I sit for a minute and think. Jeremy gets up and moves around the room. I finally say, "Very well. I will go. But you must promise me nothing will befall my ma'am."  
"I cannot promise that will happen, but I can promise your mother will be taken care of."  
"Bother not yourself with me, my son, I shall be fine. It is you, that needs your attention. Learn much, Learn well. Soak up all your mentors teach you. That could be the difference between life or death. In your training, you will have challenges that can, and might, kill you. Don't become overconfident. That is the main reason only one or two of us come out of a fight. We become too reckless, then as we are facing one, another kills us from behind. I had many friends killed that way. Don't become one of them.  
"Now go upstairs to your room, and pack your bags with the essentials. When you bring down you things we will dine then you shall be free to leave in the morning, but beware, the longer you wait, the closer the day of the great war comes, meaningless preparation.  
"When you train think of me little, but know that my love and my pride are with you, draping over you as if a cloak."  
As I turn to face my ma'am, I saw tears in her eyes, and I could feel her love, as tangible a cloak around me. As her tears started to fall, I could feel my own welling up in my eyes.  
I walk over and gather her in my arms, giving her a hug that I haven't given her in years. After a couple of seconds, she pulls away. Smiling through her tears, she sends me up to my room while she sets up the table for dinner.  
While in my room, I take two leather sacks and stuff them with some clothes. I then crawl under my bed and pull up the loose floorboard under it where I stash all my most prized possessions. I pull out a bag with 50 gold pieces, 100 silver dollars, and 400 bronze pennies, along with a long dagger and a sheath that I bought earlier that year for 60 gold pieces, taking a good chunk of my savings. I shimmy out from under my bed and place my money and dagger in one of my bags. I look around my room trying to think if I'm missing something.  
"I know that feeling. Feeling your forgetting something yet not knowing what it is."  
I spin around at the sound of the voice and see Jeremy standing in the doorway of my room.  
"You scared me. How did you get up the stairs without making them creak?"  
"I didn't come up the stairs. I came through your window."  
"Wait a minute. You climbed up the side of the house, and through my window, to get to my door, without anybody noticing?"  
"Pretty much. Though I think that your Ma'am might know. Not a lot of things escape her notice. Oh, come on. Admit that was kind of cool," he says as he notices that I'm not impressed.  
"Okay, fine. I'll admit that was kind of cool, but why the demonstration," I ask using air quotes.  
"So you can see what your training will bring you. Not only will it give you strength and speed, but it will also give you amazing fighting abilities, specifically hand to hand, with slight range training, centered around throwing knives, the bow, and a blowpipe."  
"How long does this training last?"  
"That depends on your abilities. For most born into the Creed, a maximum of five years. For those brought into the Creed, a minimum of ten years."  
"Why so short for those born into the Creed?"  
"No one truly knows. The main theory is that they are born to fight, to preserve the Creed, and so gain their parent's abilities, making them naturally better, in what we teach them. There are some who take as long as those who brought to the Creed because they are lazy and don't work hard."  
"How much would I make?"  
"Depends on your mentor. But you should make an average of ohh, 500 pieces. A month."  
"Hold on, 500 GOLD pieces a MONTH.?"  
"Yes. 500 at least every month during your apprenticeship. After that, you earn money by doing odd jobs. Some jobs pay more than others, and some are only given to people in a certain class. Your class is determined at your graduation by a panel of elders, chosen at random, by how your training went, how well you did, and what you're best at."  
"How many are chosen?"  
"Eight are chosen for each apprentice and come at random times to watch you train. You won't know they are there until you turn and see them. And sometimes not even then. At the time your mentor deems you ready, the elders will choose eight tasks, one for each elder, that you must pass. You decide how and what order to do them in, but all must be passed to become a full brother. Some tests can kill you if you aren't careful. However, if you train hard, you will be able to pass the tests with ease."  
"How many people die during the tests?"  
"Not many. Only one person on average dies a year. The most we have had die is five. For several years in a row, we had nobody die."  
"Really? So few? I would have thought there would be more people who die."  
"Sure, but as I said, if you work hard, you will pass with ease."  
"Do you often fight with the paladins?"  
"Not a huge amount, but certainly a good portion of our skirmishes are with the paladins."  
"You have battles with others?"  
"Oh, sure. Most of the other battles are with the guards of targets we fail to assassinate stealthily. Some battles are with city guards, and others are with different underground organizations, whose motives aren't as righteous as ours."  
While having this discussion, Jeremy moved over to my bed, sat down, and gestured me to do the same.  
As I sat and talked with him, I felt very at ease with him, even though he was still a complete stranger to me. The only people I felt like that with was my parents.  
"You're feeling the connection of the Creed."  
"Sorry, what?"  
"That feeling of ease you're experiencing is a positive side effect of the Creed. When around other assassins of the Creed you will be at ease. Unless they have betrayed our cause. One of the order betrayed us and gave information to the paladins of one of our top secret strongholds. However, by sheer dumb luck, he was killed by a pirate before he could complete his betrayal. Unfortunately, that pirate, whose name was Edward Kenway, sold the information to the paladins in the hope of gaining money. Thankfully he helped us defeat them in the end, and became a brother in the Creed.  
"Now, it is getting late. Come down to eat, then we must go to bed early, for we rise early on the morrow, to head to our main stronghold. I will also give you some training on the way so that you are prepared."  
We got up and headed downstairs where my mother had prepared a lovely stew with the last of the meat from the town butcher.  
After that, I left Jeremy and my ma'am to catch up and went upstairs. However, I didn't go straight to bed. I sat up and stared at my candle watching the flame flicker back and forth, as I turn over all Jeremy and I had talked about. Eventually, the candle flickered out, and I fell asleep. However, I did not sleep easy that night. That night I dreamed like I never had before. I saw a field wrecked, and filled with carnage. Buzzards flying down to feast on the bloody, bloated remains of soldiers. Amongst the bodies, I saw glimpses, of the clothes of assassins. I woke up in cold sweat. After calming down and falling back asleep, I didn't dream the rest of the night. 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 I awoke with a start. I lay in bed disappointed that last night was just a dream. Leaving this place to learn to fight and protect others. At least, I thought it was a dream until Jeremy poked his head in and exclaimed, "Finally. It's about time you woke up. I heard you last night and decided to let you sleep a bit longer. You must have had a rough night from what I heard."  
"Yeah, I just had a bad dream, stupid really but it seemed so real."  
"Yeah, everyone gets those, every once in a while. Don't dwell on it, and you'll be fine.  
"Now, get up and get dressed, because we have a long road ahead of us. Your ma'am is making breakfast and preparing some provisions for us, to use on the road. Hurry up, or you won't get anything for breakfast."  
"Okay, okay, be down in a minute."  
I lay there for another minute, and as I get up, I notice something strange above my head. It looks like a rectangular piece of metal, with some slight distortions. It takes me a second then I realize that what I'm looking at the point of a sword. With a cry of surprise I role out of bed and land with a sharp grunt on the floor. With an enormous cry of outrage, I yell "JOHN!"  
Of course, my mom comes running up the stairs immediately, wondering what was going on. As she bursts into my room as sees me laying on my floor with a sword hanging point-first over my pillow. She quickly spins around to yell at John, but I can see in her eyes who really put the sword over my bed.  
My father used to do that for fun, just to see my reactions. I haven't woken up to that in years. The last time my dad did that, I didn't see the sword until it was too late, and I now have a wicked scar on my forehead. Because of the circumstances behind my scar, and the fact that none of the other villagers own a sword, we don't even have a town watch, our village is so peaceful. The only weapon that each villager has is a longbow. Our longbows are world famous for shooting the longest and the most accurate at long distances. The bows strung are over seven feet tall. It is said that only a man from our village and several other villages in the surrounding area can even hope to bring the bow to full draw. Of course, I've met several outlanders who have been able to bring the bow to full draw, but they are barely able to hit the target at fifty paces, let alone at five hundred. I'm proud to say that I currently hold the record for longest shots with the most accuracy. I took that record from my pa at last years mid-summers festival.  
As I lay there reminiscing my ma'am is chewing out John with some words that would make a sailor gape. Some of the words she uses make even me blush, and I've been known to use some nasty words when cursing. I sit up and lean against the side of my bed and watch with a bemused expression on my face. John glances over my ma'am's shoulder to glance at me, and at that moment my mom let out a slap, that would have knocked most men against the wall ten feet behind them. As it happens John ducks under the slap, right into a knee that knocks him onto his backside rubbing his jaw. "Damn, I haven't had a hit like that since... Ohh, to long ago to remember."  
"That's what you get for trying to hurt my son."  
"Ma'am, please stop railing on John. I saw the light in your eyes that admits that you were the one who hung up the sword. Besides, I always knew that you were the one who hung up the swords while I was asleep, I actually woke up when you were hanging one up a few years ago. So don't try to act all innocent and outraged."  
"Oh, fine. You take away a lot of my fun when I try to do something like this."  
"Yes, I do. Only because I worry about you. What would you do if some of your fun turned bad and someone got seriously hurt? Like I did about two years ago."  
"That was your fault."  
"Really? Was I the one who made the sword drop? I don't remember it quite like that. What I remember is waking up seeing the sword hanging up there, then the sword just so happens to break loose from its rope, and fall. I was lucky to get away with what I did. As I recall, you yelled at dad for that one too."  
My Ma'am's face became very red with embarrassment, and starts to stutter, "Well... I-I-I. What I mean to say. Yes, I did do that if only to get you ready for today. I knew that this day was coming soon and that you needed to be prepared. All the trial that I put you through was to prepare you. I only wish that had more time to prepare you.  
"Now, breakfast is ready, and soon you must go, so let us go down and eat. You will need to eat to pass your training. I saw many almost fail because they rarely ate because they stressed their bodies too much. I saw many Assassins die because they didn't eat because they stalked their targets too much and because they rarely ate they drew unwanted attention to themselves. That is a sure way to die. Now we need to get off this subject. I made your favorite. Eggs, bacon, sausage, and a new recipe I'm trying called Cinnamon roles. Imagine bread wrapped up in a spiral with cinnamon in between the wraps."  
"Sounds amazing ma'am, I'll be right down as soon as I get dressed."  
"All right, hurry before it gets cold."  
"Yes, ma'am."  
As they leave, I see that John has a little smile on his face, before he hides it, making his face as smooth as glass. Like that was the only expression he had for the past few minutes.  
"John, wipe that expression off your face. You're not out of the woods yet. You had a chance to warn me of the sword, and based on what I saw of how it was hanging there was no way for the sword to break loose, I also happened to notice the flash of a knife, as it sheared through the rope. You were to only one on the level when the sword fell. Therefore you were the one to cut the rope causing it to fall. You are in as much fault as my ma'am, so don't try to look innocent. I will see you down at the table for breakfast."  
"Damn Arconn, you're good. All right, see you at the table."  
"See you, John."  
As John walks down the stairs, I get up and do my daily morning routine. I drop to my hands and knees in a plank position and do my fifty push-ups. I then roll onto my back and do one hundred and fifty crunches. I do this five times each without stopping. When I finish I climb out my window, and walk over to the well. I pull up a bucket of water and pour the water over myself to clean off the sweat and grime from this morning and previous day.  
When I finish cleaning myself up, I climb back into my bedroom via my window and change my clothes. I pull out some of my "Traveling" clothes and throw them on. I then grab the pack I made the previous night and walk down to the dining room.  
As I walk in, I'm met with a wall of some of the most delicious food ever. My ma'am sees my reaction and smiles as wide as she can.  
"Ma'am, what is that? That smells delicious."  
"That Arconn is my new creation, Cinnamon Rolls. Eat up. You won't eat as well as this for some time. Besides you need to put on a bit more muscle before you begin your training."  
"Ma'am, if you didn't cook as well as you did, I wouldn't be this big around the middle, and I might be able to put on some muscle, instead of fat from what I do."  
"Oh, come of it. You know as well as I do that you let yourself go a little after your pa died. So don't go blaming me for the fact that you don't do as much as you did with him, now that he's dead. But enough of that. We are supposed to be celebrating your journey to the Assassin headquarters, to follow in my and your pa's footsteps.  
"Sit down and eat, and then we'll see you on your way."  
"Thanks, Ma'am I don't know what I would do without to help."  
I sat down and piled some food on my plate. I grabbed one of the cinnamon rolls and took a bite out of it.  
"Ma'am these are pretty good. You'll have to enter them into the village tournament next year."  
"Why thank you Arconn, that is very sweet of you to say that."  
She turns to John and says, "He is very picky about his food and what he eats. So you're going to have to knock that out of him. Or else he's going to starve on the way to the headquarters."  
"Very well, Marie. I will try my best. After all, you know my methods of getting the apprentices to eat, but to have you ask me to do that to your son shows you still have a ruthless side to you."  
"Wait a minute. What do you mean by ruthless, and methods? That makes it sound like I'm not going to like it."  
"Well, of course, you're not going to like it. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what the methods are. It's much more fun for me to not tell you, then see your reactions to them."  
As John turns away, I see my Ma'am wink at me from behind him so that he can't see her. I then got that she knew how to counteract his methods, which told me that I knew how to counter his ways, for I knew that she would have prepared me for something similar to what he would do.  
I felt my face start to tighten in a grin, and I quickly face my plate and begin to shovel food into my mouth as fast as I can.  
"Woah, slow down there Arconn. You're going to give yourself a stomach ache and then have to ride on a horse for several weeks."  
"Ah, ma'am you know this is nothing. In case you forgot I took first in the eating contest. Then I took first in the longbow. I also took first in the wrestling contest. Of course, I'm reminding you in case you did forget."  
"No Arconn, I didn't forget. If I remember correctly you also got first in the obstacle course."  
"Of course I did. I just didn't want John to think that I was bragging and that I'm big-headed by citing all my awards."  
"Oh come on Arconn, if you didn't brag about your awards you wouldn't be like every other male in the world. Every man boasts and then goes on and tries to prove it and then falls short and embarrass themselves instead of impressing the lady they were trying to get. I know of several times John tried a few things to impress a few ladies while I was there.  
"You know I think I might tell you a few of those."  
Ma'am was interrupted by John's loud choking cough as he choked on his milk.  
"Marie please do not tell him. Some of those I will never be able to live down. Thankfully some of those you probably know have been forgotten. Or at least forgiven.  
"Now how about we finish our breakfast and then say our goodbyes. We're late enough as it is, so please eat fast and then complete your preparations. We will have to press hard for a couple of days to make up for what we lost today."  
"I'm all packed and ready to go. My stuff is leaning against the wall in the other room. Just let me finish this plate off, and then we can go."  
"Alright, I will go prep the horses then we can be on our way."  
John got up and let the room. When we heard the door shut, my ma'am excused herself for a moment and went upstairs.  
I was just finishing up my plate when she came down.  
I was going to ask her why she went upstairs when John came in. I then decided that now wasn't the best time to ask her any personal questions.  
"The horses are saddled, my bags are packed in the saddlebags, now all we are missing to leave is yourself, and your bags."  
"Alright, John. Be right there."  
As John walked out, I stood up and walked over to my ma'am and started to give her a hug. As I hugged her, she whispered in my ear, "Tucked into the back of my belt, there is an envelope. Take it, open it, and follow the instructions. Don't let anyone know that you have it. Also be careful. I have helped you with your powers for now, but soon your powers will come forth.  
"Be ready, be cautious, and don't be afraid. As long as you work hard, you will be fine. Remember that I am proud of you and that your father will always be with you. And remember the only person you have to be true to be yourself. Don't worry about what others think about you. The only person whose opinion you have to worry about is yourself. Others will try to bring you down. Ignore them. The only reason they do so is that they feel threatened by you. Let them feel threatened. You deserve everything you earn by your blood, sweat, and tears. All you earn is what you get for yourself, by yourself. Don't be afraid to be ruthless. You no longer have the ability to protect others. You'll barely be able to defend yourself, with what we taught you. Now, go out there into the world with my and your pa's blessing. Work hard, and remember that you are your greatest enemy while in training. Make friends, and have some fun. Training can burn a person out later in life, because all they do it work, and never take time off. Don't become one of those.  
"Now go Arconn. Become an assassin, and protect the world from destruction. That is what you were born to do."  
"Thank you, ma'am. I don't know what I would do without you to look over my shoulder, and now I'm about to find out what would happen. Don't worry about me. Without me here, you no longer have time to worry, you'll be working so hard."  
After we said our good-byes John and I got on our horses and rode down the path to our home from the main road. Just before we rode out of sight, I turned around on my saddle and looked back at me ma'am. She was crying, yet they looked of tears of joy and pride. She saw me turn around and she raised her hand in parting.  
Then as we passed a bend in the trail, she disappeared and officially my journey to become an Assassin began. 


	3. Chapter 3

About three hours after the house disappeared behind us, Jeremy led his horse over to the side of the road and stopped. He climbed down off of his horse and strode into a copse of trees just a few yards off the road. He looked over his shoulder at me and said, "Follow me."  
I climbed down off my horse and led him into the thicket, at Jeremy's urging. Leaving him just inside the tree line, and followed Jeremy further into the copse, questioning as to why we brought the horses into the tree line. "We don't know who might be coming, and we want to stay as unnoticed as possible."  
"But, why? Who could we have to worry about? Aysgarth is such a small town that you know practically everything about everybody, and its isolated enough that almost no one comes through, and those that do are traders, trappers, and distant family members of others in town. Most years we never see anyone come through."  
"Yes that might be true, but you can never be too careful."  
Jeremy was rummaging through a dense group of trees, as he said this, but the way he said it, told me that he was holding something back. I almost asked him what it was; then I realized that he had been truthful to me so far, and if he was going to hold something back, it was for a good reason.  
Jeremy finally turned around, and I was surprised to see that he was holding a small chest. In actuality, it couldn't have been bigger than a large leather satchel. He surprised me more by holding it out to me, and saying, "This is for you. Your ma'am told me about it last night after you went to bed. She told me that it was just a bit more gear for our profession."  
"What gear?"  
"You saw the clothes, and other stuff I was wearing in the tavern?"  
It was a rhetorical question, but I nodded anyway.  
"That was some basic gear for our profession. We use a variety of weapons, clothing, and other equipment because everyone has different styles of fighting and movement."  
"Oh, okay. That makes sense, but the question remains, what gear is in here? I don't remember my ma'am ever sneaking out or taking to long to do stuff while outside."  
"Oh, those are easy questions. The second is the easiest. Your ma'am was one of the best assassins we had before she left. Trust me when I say that you would not have caught her doing anything she didn't want you to know. If she didn't want you to catch her, you wouldn't have caught her."  
"Are you sure? Oh right, I forgot. Every few weeks I would hear her sneaking out in the middle of the night, and then return four hours later. I was always going the confront her about it in the morning, but she always looked depressed the next couple of days until I decided I wouldn't ask her about it. Then she would do it again just a few weeks later, and the process always repeated itself.  
"After a while, I really stopped thinking about it. I figured she had a good reason for sneaking out, especially after doing at least once or twice a month, for about two or three years. I always meant to bring it up with my dad, but I could never bring myself to talk about it with him. I don't know why but I always felt that I shouldn't tell him, about it. A gut feeling and my gut is almost always right. Then shortly after his death two years ago, she stopped altogether. When she stopped, I assumed that it was because of my dad's death, but now I guess that she finished the pack, which is why she stopped coming out here.  
"Then last night I heard her sneak out once again. This time she was only gone for a half-hour, but still. Sometimes she amazes me with what she does and can do."  
"Yes, she is one fantastic woman. Be grateful to her. Without her, YOU wouldn't be here. You would probably be on a mission already, of course, you would be supervised, seeing as you would still be in your training. But then again you might have been done with your training by now."  
"Well then, let's get going. I have a lot of catching up to do, and little time to do it in. The faster we get to where we're going the faster I can begin my training."  
"Too true. Too true."  
"Is there any other reason we need to stop beyond sleeping and eating?"  
"No, I don't believe so."  
"Perfect. Race you to the horses."  
"No, you don't."  
"Don't what?"  
"You don't want to race me to the horses. I'd be sitting on the saddle for 20 minutes before you actually showed up."  
"Fine then. How about a little wager? If I win you give me... 20 gold pieces. If you win, I give you... 30."  
"You're on."  
"Oh, one question for you. Have you ever beat my ma'am in a race? Any type of race?"  
"Truth be told? Once when we were kids. Never once have I beat her in a race after that. Why?"  
"Truth be told? I had only lost to my ma'am twice before I turned 10. I have never lost a race to her since then."  
Smiling to myself, as I heard Jeremy choke, I started to stretch to warm myself up to run.  
Picking up a stick, I drew a line in the dirt and lined up to start running. Tilting my head to Jeremy as he lined up beside me I gave him my biggest grin possible. Facing back to the front, I slowly started, "Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Begin." Then bolting from the line straight to a tree, I climbed up and jumping from branch to branch swinging on the occasional vine, I dropped onto the saddle of my horse, turning to look at Jeremy just barely coming up on the horses.  
"Looks like you owe me 20 gold pieces."  
"I'm one of the fastest Assassins we have currently, and know quite a few tricks, but that is certainly unique."  
"Yeah, I hold many of the records for our towns annual summer games."  
"How many is 'many?'"  
At this, I got a deep blush on my face, "All of them."  
The blush suddenly disappeared, and a huge laugh replaced it at the fish like face Jeremy was making as he processed the fact that I held every record in my small village.  
"Jeremy... Jeremy...JEREMY!"  
"Huh, sorry what?"  
"If you want to get on your horse, I believe that it is right about time for us to head out."  
"Right. Sorry. Just to be clear, how many, like an exact number, of records do you hold?"  
"Oh, well there is Archery, every race from hundred meters, to 10K, then there is the fastest time for a pin in wrestling, longest streak of wins." After droning on for about five minutes stating all my records and awards, I suddenly stopped dead in the road.  
Jeremy stopped as well, asking why I had stopped. In response, I pointed ahead of us at a cloud of birds.  
Jeremy started to pull out a spyglass, but I stopped him stating that they were crows and not just any crows. They were carrion crows.  
Jeremy staring at me in amazement inquired how I knew.  
In response, I replied, "For starters, you can hear their croaks, which are deeper and harsher than your average crow. Second, there is a slight amount of smoke in the air, right about where they are flying over. Third, even from this distance, you can tell that they are bigger than an ordinary crow. Yet this does no one any good unless you are able to identify fauna, based on the barest hints of any type of sign, as I have. If you might recall from your brief experience with my father, he was a fantastic tracker. Able to tell you the exact time of day down to the second, an animal left any noticeable sign of passing. I'm not that good, but he taught me all he could before he passed on. Those were incredibly fun times."  
"I remember your father being a great tracker but was never able to witness his full abilities as a tracker. I had heard stories of his skills from other Assassins who were able to see him in action, but as I said before, I never got to see him in his best element, which was the wilderness."  
"Yes, well, we need to decide what to do. We can either continue forward on our current path, take a secondary route around the area, or... prepare for a fight."  
"What?"  
"Get ready Jeremy. We have a group of bandits heading our way." Pointing in the distance. "We have maybe five minutes till they get here."  
Jeremy turning and looking at where I was pointing pulls out his spyglass. Barking out a laugh he turns to me and hands me the instrument and says, "Look."  
Taking a look through the spyglass I see the approaching riders, then looking at Jeremy, I ask what is so funny.  
"Nothing, just the fact that those riders are some of a king's men. See the uniform they are wearing."  
"Your right about them wearing the sigil of a king, however, you didn't see that the uniforms are riddled with holes, and the holes are surrounded by red."  
"What? Give me that... You're right, the uniforms are filled with holes surrounded by red. Those uniforms are more than likely looted from where those Carrion Crows are. I count only fifteen. How handy are you with that bow of yours?"  
"Fifteen riders, approaching at full gallop, I have two full quivers, my standard longbow... Once they top that rise, I can eliminate maybe all but five before they get here. Granted once they lose more than six or seven men they will either break off and retreat or start to fire back. If they start to shoot back, we will have to start moving. We don't know how good of a shot with those bows they are carrying, but they better be good or else they are stupid to carry them."  
"Yeah, you're right. Why carry a weapon you don't know how to use?"  
Reaching around to my pack I slip the bow my ma'am hid out of the special quiver designed to hold it and a full quiver of arrows, string it, nock an arrow, and draw it back.  
Taking careful aim, and sitting up straight, I aim towards the top of the rise I told Jeremy about. As soon as the first head popped up over the rise, I loosed the arrow. Immediately nocking another arrow, I draw, aim, and loose, and I get down into a rhythm. Draw, aim, loose. Draw, aim, loose. Until finally the people start to fire back at Jeremy and me. As soon as I loose the arrow I had nocked I start to ride perpendicular to the approaching riders. Yelling over my shoulder to Jeremy, "Ride the other way, try to split them up as evenly as you can. Meet me under the Carrion Crows, when you're done. We have until midday to get there and meet up."  
Not looking back to see if Jeremy followed my orders, I hunched over my horse and galloped away as fast as she could go.  
After about ten minutes of switching between a cantor and a gallop, I glance back to see EVERY SINGLE ONE of the riders that were left after me. 'Damn it,' I thought. 'I guess that's what I get for being the one who took out most of their crew.'  
Reaching back into my pack, I dig out another "present" from my ma'am, a short sword of excellent make. Holding it, so the pommel is across my body, and the blade is going away from my side, I dig into my pack again, finding a second short sword. A seeming twin to my other short sword. Holding the sword properly in my hand I take another glance behind me discovering that the riders have closed the distance by half. With the riders less than a hundred feet behind me, I hide my swords with my body and pull on the reins slowing my horse down, so the riders can finally catch me. Forming a half-circle behind me, the leader calls out, "Surrender. You have no hope to face all of us. Surrender now, and we may show mercy."  
"No, you won't."  
"What was that?"  
"You won't show me mercy. Your own twisted sense of honor demands that I pay retribution for slaughtering your companions. Besides, why should I not fight you? I once fought in a contest where it was thirty full-grown men against me in a bloody free for all. Do you want to know who won, and escaped unscathed? Me, not even a single scratch. Plus it was without weapons, all hand to hand combat. Oh right. I forgot to mention. I was twelve at the time."  
"Only boast and bluff if you know that it is going to work. Now, I'm not going to repeat this, surrender."  
"I'm just going to say this once. You don't want to fight me. Hows about you surrender, drop everything you have and walk away before you're just a useless pile of flesh and bone."  
"That's it! Take him."  
"Wait! Why don't we continue this on the ground? That way we at least have horses to leave on."  
"Actually the smartest thing you've said yet."  
As everyone dismounts, I finally turn to face the riders. Some of them are slightly surprised that I was able to pull out not just one but two short swords and keep them concealed while slowing down a galloping horse and dismounting from the said horse.  
Crouching down into a fighting stance, I ask, "How do we want to do this? All at once, one by one, or two on one?"  
As they cluster together to converse, I see a slight movement come from behind the riders' horses. Putting a smile on my face, I give my head a patronizing shake.  
The riders seeing this, combined with the smile on my face infuriates them, none of them realizing that the expression and movement were not for them, causing all six remaining riders to attack me at once.  
"Oh well, your mistake," Is all I have time to say before they all converge upon me at once.  
Dodging, hacking, slashing, blocking. That is all my mind has time to think of as they attack. One by one each falling to a well-timed parry, I drop them. Finally, only the leader is left. Him not being a coward, meant he lead the charge against me, however, time and time again I slowly but surely bleed him till he could barely stand, as he watched with terror in his eyes as I killed his last buddy.  
Slowly I turn to face him. Carefully picking my steps around the bodies, I approach him. As he tries to back away, he trips a falls flat on his back. I finally stop when I am directly over him. Turning to face the riders horses, I call out, "Jeremy! You can come out now. Jere,y!"  
Whipping around I bring the blade up to Jeremy's throat stopping in his tracks. "What happened to leading a few of them away? And why were you trying to sneak up on me?"  
"Well, I did try to lead a few away but after you took off they all started after you and nothing I did could deter them from taking off after you. As to why I was trying to sneak up on you, is that I was trying to scare you and to see how you would react."  
"Next time, for your own safety, don't do that. More often than not I hurt people because the came up behind me too fast when I was training. No one was killed, thankfully because I learned to recognize the way they walked, however now that I'm in an unknown part of the land, I can't guarantee the safety of anyone who tries that, at least not for a few months after we get to wherever we are going."  
"Don't worry, you'll learn a lot faster than you think, from what I've seen. Have you ever duel fenced before?"  
"That is actually the first way I was trained. I was taught to duel fence before using only a single blade. Granted it was a little awkward at first because I've never really used short swords before. It's always been either the standard size or a long sword. However, with a little adjustment, I think that I did alright. Now help me search these men."  
"Wait, you mean that you want to search the dead?"  
"Why not, they have little use for what they have now that they are all dead. Why waste the money they have, and anything that we can sell?"  
"One question."  
"Shoot."  
"How exactly are we going to carry all their stuff? I mean even with their horses, and ours, we are probably not going to be able to carry all of their stuff."  
"Well hopefully, my ma'am took care of that."  
"How so?"  
"My dad once told me of these people that traveled the land doing good and upholding honor. They were called adventurers. Because of all that they did, they grew wealthy, and some became famous. However, what truly marked them as adventurers were not what some people would consider special. What marked them for adventurers were satchels or messenger bags. Now, these were not ordinary bags, oh no. These bags were enchanted to be able to hold a great many objects in 'rooms.' There was actually a guy that was able to add rooms of many different kinds to the bags. They were known as rooms because, with the right combination of words that the owner of the bag set, you could enter the bag, and visit each room, individually as if you were walking in your own house. Now I always thought that these were just fairy tales until recently. Just before my dad died, he whispered two words into my ear. He wouldn't tell me what they were for, only that I would find out what they meant when the time was right and that I should always remember them. If I'm correct in my thinking, I know know what those words are for. Later, after we make camp, I would like to test my theory. However, if I am correct with my thinking, I would like some privacy to test it out."  
"I would gladly let you seek out the last remnants of your father. I have a few objects from my father that I would not show even my wife if I had one."  
"Thank you, Jeremy. For now, let's work on searching these men, taking what they no longer need, then burning the bodies, If all goes well, we should be out of here before too long."  
Looking at the sun, just below its zenith, I say, "We have maybe, another six hours before we have to make camp, if my estimate is right we should be on the other side and then some of the clouds of Carrion Crows." Taking a sniff of the air, "If we are lucky, the fall rains might hold off enough for us to get some good travel in these next few days. If not, we might be stuck for a few days while the rains pour. If we are lucky enough to make some good time before the storms show up, we might be able to camp in one of the caves that are actually just a few days north of here. Now let's hurry and search these guys, grab a bite to eat, burn them and head out of here."  
"You know Arconn, it seems like you like to take charge, even though it is obvious that I'm the one with the most experience here."  
Blushing, I reply, "Sorry, that just the way I was raised. Take charge now so that you don't fall into the pit of another leader's mistakes. The old, if you want something done right, do it yourself, type of deal. My ma'am and dad drilled that into me as a young child and reinforced it as I grew up. I also learned that just because a person appears to deserve your trust and respect to not give it to them until they show that they deserve that trust and respect."  
"An excellent philosophy to stand by. Your dad would be proud."  
"Thank you, Jeremy. Now let's get this done and over with, rather than standing and talking like old men about their glory days, eh."  
"Yeah you're right, let's get done and moving out of here."  
For the next hour, we spent the time digging through the bodies, separating them into piles based on what they were classified as, including but not limited to, money, weapons, clothing, tools, and so on. By the time we finished both Jeremy and me were covered in sweat, but happy because we had a good haul.  
"How do you want to split this up, Jeremy?"  
"Well did your dad ever tell you how these adventurers split up the treasure or loot they came across?"  
"I vaguely remember something about a bargain, umm equal shares for secondary treasure, then given shares based on experience or something or another. I really don't remember at the moment. I'm probably having one of those, I know it moments, but just can't bring it to the forefront of my mind to actually remember it, but just when it is the least useful I will eventually remember what it was."  
"Don't worry, even the best of us have those moments. Then we pay for it in very interesting ways, either by our mentors, or our enemies. I've been lucky enough to have it only be mentors. However, I've seen what our enemies are capable of. It's not pretty."  
Just as Jeremy was thinking back on those dark memories, it hit me. Quite literally. One moment I was looking at Jeremy, the next I'm not seeing anything. 


End file.
